Manufacture of stockings and the like articles of hosiery



Feb. 12, 1952 J. GARRIC 2,585,456

MANUFACTURE OF STOCKINGS AND THE LIKE ARTICLES OF HOSIERY Filed June 6,1950 Fig. 2

JEAN GAE/W6 Patented Feb. 12, 1952 MANUFACTURE OF STOCKINGS AND THE LIKEARTICLES OF HOSIERY Jean Garric, Sainte-Savine, France Application June6, 1950, Serial No. 166,310 In France September 7, 1949 2 Claims. (Cl.66-89) My invention has for its object improvements '7 in themanufacture of stockings, half stockings, socks, and the like articleson straight bar knitting machines of the Cotton type and it covers meansfor producing the two lateral tabs, or heel parts, forming componentelements of the heel.

It is known that it is possible to produce the heel parts offull-fashioned ladies stockings on Cotton machines through outwardtransferring, i. e. through a widening of two strips or tongues having awidth equal to that of the heel that it is desired to produce.

According to a usual method, the fabric is widened by outwardtransferring the loops to the extent of a needle space in every othercourses of a plurality of succeeding courses (in fact, it is difiicult,if not impossible, to widen to a greater extent, by reason of thedifferences in the draft existing between the'widened parts of themedial part of the stocking) until at the end of the heel the strip islocated almost entirely outside the initial width of the leg portionclose above the ankle. A heel is thus obtained that has two courses inlength for every needle space in breadth. For instance for a heel fiftyneedle spaces wide, the length should be equal one hundred courses. Nowit is recognized that the proportion is not the best in practice, and asa matter of fact, the heel is too long for its Width and one is led toproduce a heel of proper length that is too narrow or else a heel ofproper width that is too long. In this latter case, there arises also afurther drawback inasmuch as the knitting being continued over theinstep portion during the knitting of the heel parts, said instepportion is too long.

My invention has for its object to remove the above drawbacks throughthe execution of a heel the width of which is not necessarilyproportional to its length and to this purpose it has for its objectimprovements consisting chiefly in combining the operative steps in amanner such that before beginning the outward transfer of the Wholewidth of the heel tabs, widening of the leg portion close above theankle is provided for, but only on a few selvedge needles.

According to a preferred embodiment the outward widening in width of theleg portion close above the ankle, before transfer of the whole width ofthe tabs takes place, is obtained by transferring two or three marginalloops orstitches.

In the execution of this improved arrangement,-

the two transfer point plates or blocks adapted to provide for awidening of the heel parts are broader than the usual plates or blocksby reason 2 of their including a number of points that is at least equalto that of the needles corresponding to the width it is desired to givethe heel; said plates are, at the end of the knitting of the leg portionclose above the ankle, shifted outwardly in a manner such that a few,say two or three points may engage the corresponding marginal loops orstitches and the desired widening is then proceeded with; this beingdone, the plates are returned back inwardly by a distance correspondingto the number of needles forming the width of the heel less the numberof marginal or selvedge needles, two or three in the case considered,and one proceeds then with the usual transfer of the whole width of theheel tabs, the heel being finally finished in accordance with any knownor suitable method.

Further features and advantages of my invention will appear moreoverclearly from the following description, reference being made to ac-.

companying drawings wherein:

Fig. 1 is a fractional view of a part of a stocking blank as it appearswhen knitted flat ona straight bar machine, said Fig. 1 illustrating thesuccessive steps in the execution of oneof the two heel parts.

Fig. 2 shows the appearance of the stocking obtained when finished.

I have illustrated in Fig. 1 only the right hand side of the part of astocking to which the invention is applied and I have removed from thedrawing, with a view to greater simplification, the other half that issymmetrical of the right hand side half with reference to the line X--X.In said figure, XA corresponds to the leg portion close above the ankle,AC to the instep portion and OK to the sole.

Examination of Fig. 1 shows that, as far as the usual method giving thestocking blank an outline illustrated by way of comparison bythinner'lines is concerned, after the usual knitting of the leg portionup to the ankle at A--A the widening is executed up to BB by means oftransfer point plates or blocks while the stroke of the yarn carrier ismodified, after which one continues the widening while leaving thestroke of the yarn carrier unchanged up to C-C so as to produce thecurve of the heel; the width is then abruptly narrowed at C-C at thebeginning of the sole, the part C ----C being left aside that will belooped thereafter, it being understood that it is necessary yet to knita supplementary tongue C C D D to allow holding the fabric for the.looping. This being done, the sole is knitted while carrying out thearch narrowings FF.

It is known that in the Cotton machine provided with sinkers anddividers, the yarn carriers should, or necessity, be shifted by twoneedles at a time, whereas the transfer points may be shifted by one ortwo needles.

Taking this fact into account, the widening starting from the course AAis executed as follows according to prior art: For the first course thetransfer point plates execute the transferring of the heel parts by oneneedleoutwardly while the carrier rod stops do not move; for the secondcourse no transfer is executed; for the third course the transfer pointplates transfer the heel tabs by one needle outwardly while the carrierrod stops are shifted by two needles outwardly; for the fourth course,no transfer is made. The work continuesthereafter starting from thefifth course according to the same cycle of operation (that may as wellbegin in the manner described for the third course) during a number ofcourses that is sufiicient for the whole heel tab to be formed outsidethe selvedge needle constituting the origin of the transfer. As amatter'of fact, the sole entrance assumes substantially the same width as theleg portion close above the ankle and in order to provide for a,suitable fitting of the wearers heel, the heel tabs should be on theoutside.

In the meantime, the outward movement of the carrier'rod stops has beendiscontinued starting from the line BB while the transfer of the loopswas continued which has for its result the obtention of the curve of theheel.

The heel obtained is delimited by a line of fashioning marks A C owingto the fact that to each transfer of the transfer points outwardly,the-loop engaged by the first point on the inside is not replaced on thecorresponding needle, thus producing a mark.

The heel thus obtained in accordance with the usual method shows theserious drawback disclosed hereinabove and due to the fact that, asthere is a transfer by one needle every other course, the surface of theheel is such that it has twice more loops lengthwise than widthwise.

According to my invention and in order to obtain a heel of apredetermined width that is not necessarily proportional to its length,I produce before transferring the whole width of the heel tab and for acertain number of courses comprised in the longitudinal strip aA awidening of the leg portion close above the ankle through transfer ononly a few selvedge needles. To this purpose, the transfer point platesthat are wider than those generally used, include at least as manypoints as there are needles corresponding to the width it is desired togive the heel. For instance, each of the transfer point plates willcarry sixty points instead of fifty in the numerical example disclosedhereinabove.

Starting from the course shown diagrammatically 317101-41 there isexecuted a widening affecting only a few marginal loops, say two orthree. The transfer point plates are consequently outwardly shifted in amanner such that two or three points only for instance engage these twoorthree marginal loops. As the fabric is twice shifted by a needle whilethe yarn carriers are once shiftedby two needles, it should be noticedthat if for the first transfer, there are two points operating, therewill be three points operating for'the following transfer, and thenagain two etc., which leads to a width AA for the last course of the legportion close above the ankle.

At this moment, the transfer point plates are retracted i. e. they arereturned inwardly by 58 needles, which is the difference between 60 and2 and the heel tabs are then shifted by their entire width outwardly inaccordance with the usual method referred to hereinabove. This allowsobtaining a heel part defined by the lines a ---A B ---C C with thetongue C C D D provided for holding the fabric for the looping.

It should be remarked that the marginal marks a A produced by thepreliminary widenings of the lower end of the leg portion are hardlyvisible as they are very near the selvedge and that furthermore for thissame reason they are incorporated in the seam. They are thus invisibleon the finished stocking. This provides for the possibility of extendingthe heel to the desired width. For instance, if there are provided atthe selvedge ten widenings by one needle space, the heel will be widenedby ten needle spaces without the apparent length being modified. A heelmeasuring normally fifty needle spaces in width and courses in lengthmay thus be made to have a width of sixty needle spaces while the numberof courses is always 100.

Fig. 2 shows the finished stocking; the selvedges a A B C have been sewnand the heel borders 0 0 C have been looped.

It will readily be ascertained that in the usual modus operandi, thesurface of the heel is A A B C C whereas in the embodiment according tomy invention, the surface of the heel is increased by the surface a A BC In addition to a better appearance of the stocking, I. obtainfurthermore according to the invention other advantages and inparticular:

A heel of greater width and consequently a greater elastic width. It isknown as a matter of fact that the knitted fabric is elastic widthwisebut is not elastic lengthwise.

A greater length for the rearward middle line, that is to say the seamline, and what is more important, said increase in width is obtained inan elastic part, to wit the looped portion, whereas the seam is notelastic.

Now, the elasticity of the heel and of its looped portion is necessaryto allow the stocking to fit the heel of the wearer and to fit itpermanently when the wearer is walking as, at each opening or closingmovement of the instep, the length of the underside or sole of the footvaries and only the elasticity of the heel is capable of making up forthese differences in length.

Obviously, it is possible to provide for numerous modifications, detailimprovements and incorporation of equivalent means without wideningunduly thereby the scope of the invention as defined in accompanyingclaims.

What I claim is:

l. The method of making the heel portions of stockings and the like on astraight bar knitting machine which comprises widening the leg portionabove the ankle by transferring a few marinal loops before beginning theoutward transfer of the entire width of the heel portions at the end ofthe step of knitting of the leg portion down to the ankle, saidtransferring being effected by shifting the transfer points platesoutwardly in a manner such that a few points engage the correspondingmarginal loops, effecting the desired widening, thereafter returning thetransfer points plates inwardly by a distance corresponding to thenumber of needlesforming the width of the heel less the number ofselvedge needles corresponding to said few marginal loops,

transferring the entire width of the heel parts and thereafter finishingthe heel.

2. The method of making the heel portions of stockings and the like on astraight bar knitting machine which comprises widening the leg por-vtion above the ankle by transferring a few mar ginal loops beforebeginning the outward transfer of the entire width of the heel portionsat the end of the step of knitting of the leg portion down to the ankle,said transferring being effected by shifting the transfer points platesoutwardly in a manner such that a few points engage the correspondingmarginal loops, said transfer points plates including a number of pointsthat is at least equal to that of the needles corresponding to the widthit is desired to give to the heel, effecting the desired widening,thereafter returning the transfer points plates inwardly by a distancecorresponding to the number of needles forming the width of the heelless 6 the number of selvedge needles corresponding to said few marginalloops, transferring the entire width of the heel parts and thereafterfinishing the heel.

JEAN GARRIC.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,943,178 Heinitz Jan. 9, 19342,385,672 Woodcock Sept. 25, 1945 2,424,957 Schletter July 29, 19472,532,072 Nebel Nov. 28, 1959 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date558,301 Great Britain Dec. 30, 1943

